Scicon Bike bag
Has anybody had any experience with the Scicon bike bag that EN offers as sponsor deal? I saw this AM that it is now offered as a pre order with the The logo. I really like the idea of minimal disassembly but it looks really big. Also not sure about the whole idea of a soft side bag. Any thoughts?
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@Sid Wavrin I have the Scicon hard case, not the soft, and have used it for both TT and road bike within the last year. While it is somewhat heavy - it weighs 50# with just the bike, no pedals or any tools, it is very convenient:
• It has four wheels, which makes for easy moving with just one hand
• The box is very efficiently designed, no wasted space
• Wheels and one pedal come off, handlebars merely have to be freed from the stem.
• Assuming you go with Alaska or Horizon, there are NO extra fees for either being a bike, being oversize or being overweight - it travels from a cost perspective as if it were a piece of normal luggage
• The bike is actually suspended inside, so it never really touches the case at all.
The one downside - it took me forever to figure out how to pack the bike - there are no instructions with it, and the online videos took a bit of imagination to follow.
I have other bike cases, including the Ruster Hen House (soft-sided, two units) and a Tri-All-3 double box, as well as Bike Flights cardboard boxes. This is the best/most convenient carrier I've had, and that includes the S&S coupled road and TT bikes I've had for the past two decades.
I think it's worth the extra $$ for the hard case - piece of mind and ease of conveyance.
@Sid Wavrin I have the an older vintage of the Scicon AeroComfort Triathlon (I think it's the 1.0). I've never had a problem with it (in ~6 yrs) and have used it to transport my road bike on occasion, but usually for my tri bike. I specifically bought it for use with my P5 because that bike is nearly impossible to break down (integrated cockpit with internal hydraulic lines). It's SUPER easy to pack your bike in and unpack afterwards. Basically just remove the wheels (I also take off my pedals and RD but they say you don't need to), and mount your bike right onto the internal bag frame with normal wheel skewers. Then you tighten a few straps and you're good to go. The wheels go in dedicated pouches on the side, so there's a little bit of jenga involved the first time you use it, but pretty easy to figure out. I'm super meticulous about my bike, so I also tape on some pipe foam insulation on key parts of the frame, but that's probably overkill.
To give you an idea how easy/fast it is to pack (if you're time crunched), one time (in 2014) I climbed Mt Lemon with Tim Cronk and had to immediately rush back to catch a flight afterwards. He graciously waited for me at the top, but since I'm like ~100lbs heavier than him and I descent like a Maniac, I was able to get to my car in a gas station parking lot near the bottom and have my bike completely packed into my Scicon and have it in the car before Tim met me in the parking lot.
It rolls great so you essentially just pull it through the airport (you'll almost always need to pick it up at the oversized luggage counter/office which will add ~10-30 mins to your baggage claim process depending on the size of the airport). Yes, it's soft sided, but it's also not square, so they'd have a difficult time stacking too much stuff on top of it. I once totally cringed when I looked out the airport window towards the plane I was about to board and saw the airline employee toss my bike bag several feet into the air before it bounced after landing on the belt to get up into the plane. Bike was totally fine (maybe I'm just lucky). Now I don't watch the luggage being loaded onto the plane anymore. I've paid extra baggage fees about ~20% of the time while using it. Tricks for how to achieve that are a completely different topic, but they'd be well within their rules to charge you 100% of the time while using this large bike bag.
The other thing you'll need to consider if what type of rental car you have. You can't easily put this thing into a small or even mid-sized car. I usually rent an SUV or minivan and just slide it up into the back on it's side which has never been an issue for me. It's also not super cheap, but with things like this you usually get what you pay for (EN discount is pretty sweet, don't forget to thank the awesome @Mariah Bridges ).
I 100% endorse this bag and would buy again without hesitation.
@Sid Wavrin - I also have a Scicon hard case and +1 on all of @Al Truscott's comments.
The only issue that I have had is with airlines... twice I have had them open the case and fail to re-lock the locks. As a results, the conveyor damaged the locking mechanism and I've had to repair it.
I've added a label requesting TSA to please re-lock the case and have not had damage since.
Wow thanks, guys. A quick response from people who's opinion I respect. The team order, the way I understand it is the AeroComfort 3.0 at a 40% discount with team branding if we get enough orders. On the Scicon sponsor page however they do offer the hard case outside this pre order at also a pretty good discount. I'm torn. Maybe I will try the team order and see if we get enough? Either way ...thanks for the help.
Email says order by March 25th, but when you click through the link, Scicon's page says the order window is until April 15th. Which is the correct end date?
Hey Friends, please try and stick to the March 25th date so that I have some wiggle room for last minute adds to try and make the custom minimums and/or process orders if we don't make it. Technically you do have until April 15 but there are NO orders or changes past that date, so I like to give two dates so that people don't wait an extra amount of time for their order.
Thank you all for supporting our partners, y'all rock the most!
@Sid Wavrin I got the soft Scicon Aero 3.0 case about 1.5 yrs ago ... have only had opportunity to use it once so far but really, really like it.
Packing my Tri Bike was straightforward, including instructions/tips in the case itself, as well as the video on Scicon website.
I was also able to include other items (eg. Wetsuit, water bottles, tools, mini tire pump, etc.) which helped to protect my bike (my opinion) and free-up enough suitcase space to enable carry-on only traveling (except for the Scicon)
Although big, it was still pretty easy to guide through airports ... wheels and handle strap worked well. Flew Southwest and had to pay extra for it of course, but they delivered the case and my bike on-time and undamaged.
This was my first experience traveling with my bike via plane, and ultimately I'm glad I had the Scicon Aero 3.0.
PS ... the logo and color scheme look SWE-E-E-E-E-TTT @Mariah Bridges ! ...
I have the Scicon soft case and love the convenience and ease of use. I would rather pay to have my bike shipped whole than to disassemble. However its huge, it does not fit easily into rent a cars, and I do not think it does a good job at protecting the bike from the airlines. Nothing major has happened to my bike or bag but stuff like brake levers etc needed to be readjusted . I do not think I would buy a soft bag again. I would love to buy one just like it with a hard case though!
@Mariah Bridges Spins her web!! Thank you for these new deals, Mariah. So many choices. Awesome to have a mid season gear option...love the Orange Mud stuff...and now a bike bag decision. My carts are full. Better pair them down before I click okay!!! Nice work!
+2 on what @John Withrow said above. I bought a used 2.0 Aero case a few years ago, same issue as john with the P5. I use it for my road bike and my tri bike. I don't have to take off the pedals, but I do, as it 's one less point to pressure the bike from. Super easy, it floats on the wheels when running through an airport and have had no issues wiht the bikes..
I have used two different soft sides over the years with great success - i.e., no damage - ever; and I have done many races overseas with multiple connections. But I dismantle just about everything, use fork locks and other protection. I have a friend who just traveled to the Campeche 70.3 this weekend with a brand new SciCon softcase and her rear DR was damaged. I don't care what anyone says, or whether your bike is in a hard or soft case, the rear DR should always be removed, wrapped in old t-shirt and taped with the chain to the chain stay.
BTW, the graphics on the SciCon case are awesome.
@Sid Wavrin I have the Scion Soft Case 3.0. So far so good. I've used it about 5 times. The only airline I've heard that is a horror show is United. I bought the Rear Derailleur Protector for extra protection. I also use foam swim noodles to protect certain areas. I tape it on with blue painters tape ... easy.
PS - good @John Withrow / @tim cronk story. 😂
Flew to San Juan this past weekend with my Scicon Tricase . My aeo bars are to long for the case with my latest fit so I have to loosen them and pull them back towards the frame and flip them to point down. I worry about stripping the screws on the Zipp Stealth. Good news was American airlines charged as a second bag ($40) going down and going back I was Business class and convinced them to count it as a second bag as it was <50 pounds so free. I love the graphics but not ready for a new case yet. If you're at 24 and needed just 1 more, I could be convinced.
@Sid Wavrin ... My 2 cents on the above bag. Super user friendly as per above, rolls well, easy/quick to pack. I would second the idea of taking of the rear Derailleur as did get some damage the first time I used it (no issues since). Also If you have a very large bike (I'm 6'4" and ride a 61cm with long effective top tube), the aero bars may just barely NOT fit so instead of just popping the bike into the bag, you have to loosen the headpiece and push down the bars which can if not careful impinge and stress the cabling)...
despite all said, I'm extremely happy with the bag!
hi!!! where can i find the link to check out this deal?
@Liz Hickox On the Dashboard, click Store, click Team Discounts then follow the links to all of the EN sponsors and discounts.
https://www.endurancenation.us/sponsors-and-partners/
I bought one last year for IMLOU. My bike is a P3 61 cm and the only downside is that the aero bars don’t fit so I have to loose them and bend them down.
The bag is great, easy to use, and very light allowing to put extra stuff in it, like wetsuit or helmet.
The only problem I had was during transportation the wire going to the rear derailleur rubbed against the cage that protects the derailleur and it cut it off. Next time I will be adding extra protection to both derailleurs.
Its a soft shell bag and it gets no love from the airport employees so there is always the risk of something going wrong